The present invention is directed to a tissue dispenser that provides packaging for tissues, allows a first tissue to be withdrawn from the package and places subsequent tissues in a ready position for easy retrieval by a user.
There are many commercial manufacturers of paper tissues. These tissues are frequently sold in a container that has a withdrawal slot in the top of the container. The tissues are also folded in such a manner that as one is withdrawn from the opening in the top of the box, another tissue is placed in a raised position above the top of the box for ready access by the user.
A problem with such dispensers is that, as the supply of the tissues gets lower in the box, the exposed tissue frictionally grips less of the next tissue in a box and eventually loses the ability to draw a succeeding tissue out of the box. When this occurs, the next in line tissue collapses into the box and must be dug out by the user. This presents a problem since it is further down in the box than the initial tissue which is readily accessible, so the user must shove their hand through the opening in the top of the box to try to dig out a succeeding tissue. This may happen frequently before the box is empty and is especially troublesome with the larger boxes that hold 500 or more tissues.
The prior art has tried to overcome this problem with only a minor degree of success. In particular, some of the dispenser designs have included a second slot that communicates with the slot on the top of the box and extends across half of the top of the box and at least partly down the side of the box. While this in some ways allows the tissues to be fed to the side so as to reduce the likelihood that the succeeding tissue will simply fall back into the box, it presents other problems. For example, the opening in the top of the box is typically carefully designed to grip succeeding tissues and hold them upward so they are available to the user. Normally these boxes include a rectangular shaped slot or opening that is covered with a layer of thin plastic with a slit down the middle. The opening allows the user to reach in to grab either the first tissue or a later tissue, but at the same time the plastic tends to grip a tissue and hold it in a partly withdrawn state. In the boxes having a second side slot that intersects with the top slot, the primary slot construction is substantially disturbed so that the box loses its ability to hold the tissues in an upright position that are displayed through the primary slot.
Secondly, the side slot is generally perpendicular to the plane of the tissue so that the tissue ends up getting wadded up by the slot and the geometry of the side slot puts additional stress on the tissue which causes the tissue to often tear. This results in part of the tissue falling back in the box which is the problem the side slot is supposed to resolve.
Consequently, it is desirable to have a tissue dispensing box that allows the tissues to be originally withdrawn from the top of the box, but as the tissue layer drops, to allow tissues to be withdrawn from a second or subsequent slots from other areas of the box in an easy manner and in such a way that tissues are continuously fed through the second slot without the user having to dig into the box to get each tissue after the tissues drop beneath a certain level.
A container for tissues, especially a container in which the tissues are originally purchased, includes a set of walls joined together to form a rectangular box. An elongate first slot is located in a first of the walls, normally the top wall. The first slot is aligned such that it is parallel to the plane of the tissues, as tissues are withdrawn from the dispenser.
The dispenser includes a second slot in a second of the side walls. The second slot is elongate and also aligned to be parallel to the plane of the tissues as the tissues are withdrawn and to the first slot. The second slot is separate from the first slot and does not intersect therewith.
Both the first and second slots are preferably provided with a thin plastic cover which is slit down the middle so as to allow access to the dispenser through the slot, but to also frictionally grasp and hold a subsequent tissue in a ready position.
Therefore, the objects of the present invention are: to provide a dispenser for tissues that allows a user to withdraw tissues from a first dispensing opening, when the tissues are above a transition level within the dispenser and from a discreet second opening when tissues are below the transition level; to provide such a dispenser wherein the openings are separate from one another, elongate and parallel to one another; to provide such a dispenser wherein the openings are positioned in at least two different walls of the dispenser and are not contiguous with one another; to provide such a dispenser having a box which can be constructed generally from a single folded piece of material cut by a die from a sheet; to provide such a dispenser which allows tissues to be maintained at a ready position from a first slot, until tissues within the dispenser reach a certain level, and thereafter, the tissues may be accessed and maintained at a ready position from the second slot; to provide such a dispenser wherein the tissues are not substantially folded or wadded upon removal and are not easily torn due to pressure being exerted by the slot dispensing the tissue; to provide such a dispenser which is easy to manufacture, inexpensive to produce and especially well adapted for the intended usage thereof.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein are set forth, by way of illustration and example, certain embodiments of this invention.